In my quixotic search to find
the perfect location strobe system I've used and owned practically everything--including
dry-cell powered Matadors in the 1970s to Norman 200bs in the '80s to
Lumedynes and Hensels in the '90s, I've tried everything. For years I
trudged about the country with Balcar P2 battery-powered stuff, constantly
wondering whether my battery would hold a charge long enough to get the
shoot done. While I've pined for a slick Balcar Concept B3 system, my
system now is a voltage inverter and a car battery, hardly a "portable"
solution.

Last year I stumbled across
the Broncolor Mobil system at a Sinar dealer on the West Coast. This looked
like a perfect setup, a tiny power pack with user replaceable gel-cell
batteries and even tinier lamp heads that also have modeling lamps for
on-set lighting evaluation, and an AC adapter to use the system in the
studio. Perfect? Just about. Cheap? Not really. The full system was just
a bit too much strobe for me.

Recently Visatec, the offshoot
of Bron Elektronik AG that aims more for the working portrait, wedding,
and location photographer, introduced a slightly modified version of the
Mobil. Called the Litepac, it offers a near perfect combination of power,
portability, and value. Unlike the 1200 ws Mobil, the 600 ws Litepac doesn't
offer an AC adapter for studio work, but does feature one of the most
amazing battery performances I've ever encountered.

Power Options
Wedding and portrait photographers have long favored small portable strobe
systems like the Lumedyne system and the Quantum Q-Flash for their excellent
battery life. Charge 'em up, hit the streets and the flash keeps on working.
For on-camera flash those remain the king of the hill, but many location
shooters seek a more traditional studio-type flash head system and versatile
flash generator. Here's where the Litepac is extremely attractive. Like
the Porty from German manufacturer Hensel, the Litepac offers a removable,
rechargeable battery pack, a very portable pack, and a head that can integrate
with a wide array of studio fittings. In addition, both Hensel and Visatec
offer a ringlight, the cool people light that refuses to decline in popularity.

Typically Bron-like in its
design, the Visatec Litepac is a tidy and portable package.

While the Hensel Porty has
become a staple in the location photography world and offers 1200 ws,
there still is a hole in the marketplace for portrait and wedding guys.
My own location strobe system was a workhorse, but I constantly battled
the battery life issue. Some days I got 80 pops, some days only 50. It
all depended on how long ago I had charged the battery, how hot or cold
it was, and how fast I shot. When Visatec sent me a complete Litepac system
for review I seriously doubted their claim of a nearly unbelievable 280
full power flashes.

Sleek Design
The Litepac system, as with all Bron produced items, is a gorgeous piece
of Swiss design. The sleek, all-metal power pack has the familiar Broncolor
dimpled black side panels and an LCD control panel. The teeny heads look
more like expensive track lights than strobe heads, but manage to pack
a flash tube, 12v modeling lamp, and a cooling fan into a handsome package.
Unlike the Hensel unit the Litepac does not have an integrated strap,
but rather comes with a Cordura case that has straps. This is no big deal
since the only real on-camera application is with the ringflash. (Not
a big wedding light source.)

The Setup
Setting up the system for testing first requires charging up the battery
pack. The battery can be charged either within the pack or out of the
pack. I plugged in the charger and let it cook all day. Once fully charged
I plugged in a single head, which was a little tricky since Visatec didn't
see fit to include any clearly identifiable alignment guides, like a yellow
dot or an alignment pin. Regardless, it fits fine and seems unlikely to
cause any problems, even if you try and fit it the wrong way. (It only
fits in one alignment.)

As with most Bron strobe products,
the control panel is configured for worldwide consumption. This means
that controls are marked by cryptic Euro-speak designations. The slave
on-off switch says "Cell," the fast/slow recycle button says "ECO," and
the on/off switch says "OI." You learn it fast enough but when you hand
the pack to your assistant and tell them to set the pack up for "slave
on, modeling lamp off, fast charge" they'll give you that blank stare
that many assistants are awfully good at. A few Avery laser labels will
fix that fast, but I sure would prefer a language-specific overlay. Once
powered up you find that the integrated 50w halogen modeling lamp is actually
fairly bright, but totally useless in all but near darkness once aimed
through a softbox or bounced into an umbrella. For direct flash use it's
bright enough. Obviously the modeling lamp will seriously degrade battery
life, so I shut it off and got to shooting.

For a location assignment in
a dark and dingy factory I shot 11 rolls of Velvia in a Mamiya RZ with
both of the Visatec lamp heads parked behind a large machine with red
gels, and the unit fired flawlessly for the duration of the 41/2 hour
shoot. That's 110 full power flashes plus probably 30 more for metering
and Polaroiding--figure 140 flashes. Wow! I've never had that kind of
battery performance. The film looked great, with the Visatecs pumping
out consistent flash output without a single missed frame.

Battery Performance
While 140 flashes is great, it ain't 280. Curious, I charged up the battery,
plugged in a single head and started working on a folder full of images
in Photoshop. While I was occupied on the computer I fired off the Litepac
once every 10 sec, marking the number of flashes on a sheet of paper.
Hours later I had marked down 160 flashes and the unit was showing 1/2
power remaining. I didn't have the stamina to fully test the 280 number,
but I would not be surprised to see at least 250 full power flashes on
a freshly charged battery.

Shooting on location is
what this system is all about. While the nice Cordura bag
needs to be peeled open to access sync and lamp head ports,
it's still a marvelous portable lighting solution.

While the battery life is nothing
short of amazing, there are still some idiosyncrasies that a photographer
has to keep in mind. Like all battery-powered flash units, the Litepac
likes to be operated with a freshly charged battery. Not a fully charged
battery, a freshly charged battery. This means that even if you don't
use the battery after charging, firing it up a week later will result
in a greatly diminished lifespan. Also keep in mind that while the unit
may bang out 250 flashes when freshly charged, I found that after firing
off 60 shots with a freshly charged battery I only got another 20 pops
when fired up three days later without a charge applied in the interim.
This is standard for units like this.

My biggest complaint with the
Litepac is actually the carrying case. It's a nice looking case but requires
you to practically peel it off the pack like a banana to get to the flash
sockets and flash sync outlet, which is difficult because the case isn't
really designed to peel off in such a manner. It's a poor design and it
really should be looked at. (Just adding a flap on each end of the bag
would allow for nearly instant access.) In addition, the flash sync outlet
is recessed into the pack and is one of those mini 1/8" phone plug connections.
In other words, not only do none of my 1/4" phone plug cables, slaves,
and radio remotes work, but neither do my heavy-duty 1/4" to 1/8" adapter
plugs. (They're too fat to fit.) That said, Visatec does include a very
nice 16 foot cable with a sync plug on one end. The Litepac system from
Visatec is a wonderful adaptation of Bron's excellent Mobil location strobe
system. For almost all people photography 600 ws is plenty, and the sterling
battery performance will absolutely spoil you. The standard location kit
carries a suggested US list price of $2131, and includes the pack, battery,
charger, LP1 lamp head, sync cable, and travel bag. Adding a second head
adds another $551. Replacement batteries are only $151, which seems awfully
inexpensive to me. (Even better, the packs appear to be loaded with relatively
standard 12v gel-cell batteries, so reloading the battery carrier should
be a piece of cake for your strobe repairman.) The most appealing accessory
is the RF 5500K daylight-balanced ringflash, which is fairly priced at
under $1000 ($971). If you're a wedding, portrait, location, or commercial
photographer, you'll definitely want to take a good look at the Visatec
Litepac system. Check them out at www.hasselblad.com.